If you want portable files, with your actual records, you can get a USB hard drive or other moveable storage, too. Just unplug from the USB slot and take it where you need it.
If our treasurer was not a technophobe, we'd use Finance Manager. Web-based is the way to go. All the leaders have access to the information, with different levels of permission (some can add info, others only view).
If you don't expect too much from me, you might not be let down. <img src=images/smilies/smile.gif>
I'd be very reluctant to purchase a laptop for our PTO. It's not just a one-time hardware purchase. There's ongoing expenses and the risk of loss, theft, damage. Then there's the question of who is responsible if the computer crashes, or the system gets corrupted by a virus, and what if the treasurer wants to add her own software - is that ok?
I'm sure there's no law against it, but it's a big purchase that should be considered very carefully (as you are). From what my kids tell me about the price of a decent laptop, and from I've seen about the price of Tim's Finance Manager, you could pay for several years of service (spread over those years) for the same price you'd have to pay all at once to buy a laptop. And how many computers really last beyond 3 or 4 years??
Finance Manager is perfect for what you are looking for. Treasurer can access and manage from any computer with an Internet connection. And other leaders can look in/review anytime, too.
Treasurer's kid gets sick and can't make the meeting? Your VP can log in and print (one-click) the monthly treasury report. And lots more....
I don't know any laws that say you can't buy a laptop. Our treasurer just uses her home computer. Even in our low income district, most families either have a computer or have access to one, and it's understood you do PTO work on your own computer.
Getting a laptop just for the treasurer would make me a little nervous--you hear so many stories about treasurers who don't turn over the checkbook and other financial data--imagine if one of these got ahold of the laptop. I'd just be afraid we'd never see it again.
We would like to purchase a lap top to keep all our finacial data on one computer that the current treasuer would keep at her house. Are there any laws stading that we can't and why?Does anyone else have a computer to keep data on?
